Dear Editor:
The city should be commended for its focus and initiatives regarding sustainability and mitigating climate change impacts by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use. These include the Energy Save New West program, transit and cycling support, community planning approaches, and the district energy system. However, the urban solar garden project has a serious and obvious flaw in its rationale. It is being sold as supporting the city’s sustainability and carbon/GHG reduction goals.
However, this project will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions at all. Any electricity generated from the solar system will only be displacing hydro-generated electricity from the grid.
This electricity is already fully renewable energy with nearly zero associated greenhouse gas emissions. What’s worse, if you consider the life cycle carbon emissions of each technology from cradle to grave, solar PV is two to 10 times more carbon-intensive than hydro, so it is actually a detrimental project. It is likely that homeowners would be better to invest their dollars in reducing natural gas use in their home, or buying renewable natural gas (RNG) from Fortis, or reducing vehicle-related emissions.
Solar PV generation can significantly reduce GHG emissions in remote communities where power is generated from diesel, or in other provinces where there is coal-fired power, but not in grid-connected B.C.
No doubt all the stakeholders involved have great intentions, but they need to reconsider this serious misapplication of an otherwise promising technology.
Ruben Arellano, P.Eng, New Westminster
